They were Aurors, you know
by Vega Black62
Summary: A look at Alice and Frank Longbottom's life together while they helped the Order fight Voldemort.  Cameos from Baby Neville, Augusta, and Moody.
1. A talented woman

_December 1, 1980_

Alice Longbottom was a small, fair-haired woman with a round, sweet face and a big smile. She beamed when she smiled; she glowed, and she charmed. Those on the receiving end of the smile delighted in it, because they believed at that moment that she smiled only for them. Leaving aside her smile, most found her appearance unremarkable. She looked like any number of women who passed unnoticed as they ran to pick up their children or rushed home from work.

The ability to appear small and commonplace were assets not normally considered important for an Auror; others prized power, strength and intelligence when hunting dark wizards, and of course Alice did as well, but her work as an Auror had taught Alice to turn anything to her advantage.

Her vocation obliged her pass unnoticed and unremembered as she slipped through crowds watching and appraising, she needed to disarm her quarry and she needed to inspire trust in those she met. They had to find her sympathetic, kind and trustworthy.

In her ten years of service as an Auror she had tracked and interrogated enough people that she feared recognition. Transfiguring her appearance while working had become a necessity.

Polyjuice potion was not acceptable to her. Although Alice claimed the potion was too restricting because it lasted for a limited period and she found repeatedly drinking the potion to renew her appearance awkward in public and sure to make her conspicuous, actually she felt dishonest assuming a real person's identity, which was a strange scruple because so much of her work required trickery and deceit.

Transfiguring her face had become surprisingly hard. She was running out of faces and she couldn't just choose features out of her mind and come up with a face that made any sense as a face. Often the face became noticeably odd looking when she matched a random set of eyes with another mouth or nose so she studied Muggle magazines and newspapers for likely combinations of features as carefully as a teenager looking for beauty secrets.

Of course she did not choose her facial features for beauty - quite the opposite - she wanted her transfigured face to be plain, ordinary and easy to forget. She knew how to use her own features to advantage in her work; she wouldn't know how to use a beauty's or a teenager's or an old woman's for that matter.

Her assignment on this rainy night was to find one man out of these dozens and alert other Aurors to his location, Aurors who were not so small and unremarkable and who could not track the gentleman unnoticed. Tonight her partner was Alastor Moody, who could not walk across the street without attracting a flurry of attention and driving any Death Eater within fifteen miles into hiding.

Her informant reported a tall, gray haired man with a long nose who frequented the Black Bat tavern at night. She had surveyed the customers of the pub after dark, watched them enter and exit, and scanned the passersby. The Black Bat, a staid establishment offered few likely candidates even for such a broad description. After three nights, she decided to abandon her original plan and broaden her search.

It had rained all day and the streets were slick as she cut through an alley and entered a large thoroughfare filled with crowds rushing home from work. These wizards on the street were too young or unskilled to Apparate or couldn't afford to pay the fees for lessons. They lived in homes without fireplaces or were too poor to hook up to the Floo network, so they traveled on foot like Muggles.

These were the bus drivers and waitresses and maids of the wizarding world and they mixed with people all day. They served and talked and observed. When they went home they walked the crowded streets looking into each others faces and bumping into each others arms. They'd seen and could show her far more than the office workers at the Black Bat who took the Floo network to and from the ministry. These were the people she turned to when she needed answers.

She picked her way through the crowds in the manner of a woman rushing home from work, brushing and bumping with humble apologies others on the street. In this way she gained access to their eyes and with that their thoughts and observations, searching their minds for any sign of her Death Eater. There was none, but there were occasional images of another pub, the Black Dog. Her suspicion grew that the informant had confused the names.

She continued her search until it grew late and the crowds thinned and she risked becoming that most conspicuous of travelers – a lone woman on an empty street in the dark. She considered giving up for the night when a young woman walked past her. Fear and guilt spilled out of her so powerfully that Alice could see the fleeting images as she walked away. Most were confused and indecipherable, as would be expected, but one caught her attention: two men and the inside of a pub.

Alice immediately followed the girl wanting to investigate her fear, because fear had a source and that source might be her Death Eater. The girl was standing at the entrance of a small apartment building. Alice approached her – a woman alone on a dark street talking to another woman and asking for help.

"Oh, would you please excuse me. I'm lost and I'm looking for a pub in this neighborhood. It's called the Black something? Can you help me?" Alice asked. An image from the woman's mind was clear: two men in a pub again, but more easily perceived than the first image and this time one of them, Alice recognized immediately as a wanted Death Eater. She'd found her source and grinned with genuine joy.

"Oh, you don't want the Black Dog." the woman answered. "Some awful blokes came in, nasty ones. When my shift ended I ran out as fast as I could. I left my friend behind." Alice flashed a sympathetic smile and spoke with sincere gratitude. "That's it. It's the Black Dog. My husband is meeting me there. Do you want us to check on your friend?"

Moments later she was on her way, with the girl's name, the friend's name and the directions. Thank God, she had been lucky and now she was sure she had her man. The original informant had gotten the name of the pub wrong, not the first time something like that happened.

She wound her way through dreary alleys pocked with puddles and soggy trash until she found herself at The Black Dog. The whole location, the rain, the street, the pub, was dismal, a step down from the Black Bat. Through the front window she could see the pub was empty except for two men, one a young man and another older who matched the description of the man she hunted. She wondered if the men had scared off the other customers.

She circled around to the kitchens. Another young girl, a teenager really, was pacing around the kitchen, peering through a window in the kitchen door and walking in agitated circles. Alice stepped into the kitchen and gave the girl her most sympathetic smile. The girl smiled back, but passed her wand nervously from hand to hand.

"Are you alright dear," Alice asked. "I don't like the look of those men. Your friend Mary told me how to find this pub. She mentioned them, and asked me to check on you. Do you want company?"

Please dear, Alice thought to herself, trust me. It will be better for everyone if you trust me. The girl stopped passing her wand between her hands and looked at Alice briefly. "You know Mary?" she asked.

"She told me how to find this place." Alice repeated. "She's worried about you. I don't think she liked to leave you alone here."

The girl sighed and began to fidget with her wand again. "What can you do?" she answered, her voice tense with nervous energy. It wasn't really a question but a statement. "They've come in every night for a week. They're mean. They follow me sometimes while I work." she added. Renewing her agitated pacing she said, "Hecate's pants, I hate working nights. I've got to get another job."

Alice crossed over to the window. The men were content with their drinks, but who knew how long that would last. Before Alice could act, she had to get the girl out of the pub. She made a quick decision deciding to take a risk.

Alice walked up to the girl to gain her attention. The pacing had stopped.

"I can help you." she assured the girl. "I'm with Magical Law Enforcement and I've been looking for those men." Alice gestured toward the pub area. "They're dangerous and there's going to be a fight, so I want to get you out of here." she said calmly.

Alice pulled out a small badge and showed it to the girl, who didn't even glance at it, instead she stared at Alice in shock. Her hands were shaking, and she dropped her wand. Alice picked it up for her and put her arm around the girl leading her to the door. The girl's relief was palpable. Pressing her wand into her hand, Alice whispered into her ear, "Go home." and the girl took off.

Alice threw a towel over her shoulder and hurried into the pub. The man she thought was Travers looked up at her.

"Who are you? Where's the other one?" he asked.

"Family emergency. I'm replacing her." Alice replied.

He looked at Alice suspiciously. The younger one, a large and oafish boy, ordered two Firewhiskeys. She placed one in front of the young man, but she needed to get a good look into the eyes of the older man. She was positive he was her quarry, Travers: long thin nose, tall as Frank, with long, gray, frizzy hair sticking out around his head.

Alice tripped a little as she leaned over to place his glass on the table. Then she purposely let the glass slip through her fingers. It smashed on the floor spilling the Firewhiskey at his feet. The suspected Death Eater cried out in anger as he shoved his chair back and jumped away.

Apologizing the entire time she knelt at his feet and wiped the mess up with a towel.She wiped the floor like a Muggle rather than use a Banishing Charm suspecting that it would incite the man and it did. She looked up into his face as she apologized and was able to look right into his eyes. He slapped her across her cheek.

The brutal and unnecessary act was useful to her because it allowed her to get further into his mind. The contempt, anger, and pleasure at humiliating her provided a hook which allowed her to grab his memories. She could see him killing the McKinnons. The scene was clear and vivid:

_They were in the park with their children, two girls, eleven and nine. She could see picnic tables, large shade trees and a distant lake. _

_Travers Apparated in front of them, two other Death Eaters behind them. The Death Eaters formed a V around them effectively trapping the family. The girls and Marlene were killed quickly by __Avada Khedavra__ curses. The children had run to their mother and had clung to her impairing her ability to defend them. _

_Tom McKinnon was killed last. He was an important Healer and could be relied upon to care for any injured Order member, but he obviously had little experience dueling. He was easily overwhelmed by his opponents. _

_At the end Travers used a curse against him that Alice had never seen before, __Sparagmos__. It rent Tom McKinnon's body apart as if torn with invisible hands. Horrible to watch it seemed intended to terrify onlookers, but there was no audience for this death. The only living witnesses were Death Eaters. When they'd finished they burned his body._

The entire scene took moments to observe. She broke her gaze from Travers. Her hands shook as she finished cleaning the mess in a fair imitation of fear. She wanted to blast him against the wall for what she'd seen, for Marlene, for the slap, but that would have ruined everything. Also a suspected Death Eater sat behind her. He could kill her before Travers hit the wall.

"I'm sorry, I've been clumsy. I will get you another glass – no charge - no charge, for either drink," she said. She was shaking.

"You do that you clumsy squib." he replied, taking her behavior for fear in reaction to his slap.

She had set two glasses of Firewhiskey in front of both men when Antonin Dolohov Apparated into the pub and joined them. A cruel man, he was exquisitely dangerous and had delivered the death blows to both Gideon and Fabian Prewett. Frank's and Moody's wanted list featured Dolohov in the first position. His picture and his dossier had been her constant study for months. She recognized him immediately.

Quickly adding a third glass to the table, Alice said, "No charge, because of my clumsiness. I'll be in the back room. Call if you need anything from me." she added.

She walked scuttled back to the kitchen and then ran to the back door and pointed her wand into the alley. "_Expecto Patronum_" she whispered and a silver squirrel burst from the tip of her wand. She sent it off to Moody with the message: "Dolohov, Travers and a third at the Black Dog Pub. I'm in the kitchen. Travers killed Marlene. He has a new curse. Sparagmos. The flesh render. Beware."

She slipped back to the kitchen door to keep watch over her Death Eaters noting carefully who spoke and who deferred to the other. The young one was still unknown to her. She was tempted to scan his mind, but she feared that if she was too ambitious she might give herself away. Then she would have to fight all of them alone, and one of the three the powerful Dolohov. As an Auror she dueled well enough but this fight was beyond her skill.

If they attempted to leave, she would have to stop them. She watched for any sign of movement on their part because the only chance she had was to hex them quickly before they realized she was after them. She was glad she gave them the extra Firewhiskies; it might make all the difference if it came to a fight between them.

To her great relief, her partner, Alastor Moody, Apparated into the kitchen with an expectant look on his gnarled and scarred face. She felt the familiar shock at the sight of the large chunk newly cut out of his nose by dark magic. It added an almost comical air to his otherwise menacing features. The original plan was for her to find Travers and for Alastor to fight him. The addition of Dolohov changed things. She held up three fingers and pointed into the pub and made a motion to imitate drinking.

Just as she was preparing to join Moody and capture the three men her husband, Frank Apparated into the kitchen. He was supposed to be guarding Neville while she was on this mission.

He wasted no time making it clear why he was here. "You're not dueling with Dolohov around" he said. "Go home, Alice."

Unlike Moody, Frank refused to allow her to accompany him on arrests, claiming worry for her distracted him and placed them both at risk.

"Go home to the baby," Frank whispered.

She was ready to argue with him that there were three and she would be needed, when Moody turned and gave her a look that said, _Frank won't_ _budge stop wasting time._ As he and Frank signaled to each other the plan for the fight she Disapparated from the kitchen leaving both her husband and her mentor behind.


	2. They were picking us off one by one

Alice Longbottom Apparated to a point 100 meters outside her home and untransfigured her face. Now returned to her natural appearance, she approached a column placed to mark the boundary of the protective spells surrounding the house and pressed her palm against it while pronouncing the incantations which allowed her to pass through unmolested. If she had not been alone, entry would have been far more difficult.

She ran through the rain to a second column and again pressed her palm to it; she announced another set of incantations ending with the pronouncements: _ falsa revelo, nudo fides, _and _templa serena,_ the last charms allowing her to approach the house safely.

Finally, she pressed her palm to the front door and preformed a final set of spells which allowed her entry into the house. Once in the house, she could hear the voice from the walls -- calm, female and resolute. "Alice Longbottom is entering through the front door," it warned.

She was greeted by Frank's mother, Augusta, her wand ready, Alice's Kneazle rubbing against her legs. The Kneazle looked up and appeared to study Alice. Then he trotted calmly over and sat in front of her waiting to be greeted. Alice scooped him up as she waited for Augusta's security questions.

"What is my Patronus?" Augusta asked.

"A she-bear", Alice answered working hard not to laugh. _That Patronus was too perfect for Augusta_, she thought.

Augusta followed with a second question quickly. "Where did we first meet?"she asked.

This time Alice laughed out loud. "The absolute first time? Platform nine and three quarters, I was twelve and hit you with my luggage cart. I cried."

Augusta smiled and lowered her wand. "Welcome, Alice dear", she said.

She approached Augusta and looked into her eyes to examine her mind. Ever since Neville's birth she searched the minds of all who entered their home; you paid your toll to visit the Longbottom household by allowing her a quick look into your mind. It was the most effective test of the identity of visitors. No one could fake the thought processes of the loved and familiar, and no one could manufacture random memories.

Out of respect for their dignity, she always scanned her visitors as lightly as possible and in an obvious way, allowing them time to prepare. Confirming their identity, not interrogating them, was the point after all. Few could hide much from her anyway.

Her mother-in-law's mind revealed a long wait with her son for word of Alice's search for Travers and, oddly, a twenty year old memory of Frank riding a broomstick as a boy. The last made Alice smile. She leaned forward and gave her mother-in-law a kiss on her cheek; after ten years of marriage to Frank, she and Augusta rubbed along very well.

Alice respected her mother-in-law's courage in allowing her access to her mind; not many would allow such intimacy with a daughter-in-law. She'd learned to love Augusta more, by looking into her thoughts and seeing the things she never openly shared. She learned for instance how hard it had been for Augusta to have Frank and how much she had wanted another baby. How long and fruitlessly she waited for another one.

Of course, she also learned much that she would rather not know. The first thought Augusta's mind ever revealed to Alice was a memory of learning of her and Frank's engagement, and Augusta thinking that Frank could do better. Alice thought it was funny now. As they told her in training, Legilimens are like those who listen at keyholes: they never hear anything good about themselves.

"You look done up dear. I'll make us some tea. Neville's asleep upstairs. You go check on him." Augusta said. With a quick flick of her wand she performed a drying spell on Alice's clothes and turned to walk into the kitchen.

Alice ran upstairs and stopped to look at Neville. He lay asleep on his back with his arms thrown over his head and his little hands curled into fists. Four months old, he had reached the fat and happy stage of infancy and was a cuddly bear. He had her round face, and blond hair and Frank's grey eyes, when they were open, or at least that was how it looked now. Both her mother and Augusta insisted that a baby's hair and eyes were unreliable and guaranteed to change.

_Poor thing, with that round face he has ten years of cheek pinches ahead of him,_ she thought. She gave him only a soft pat and left the room for her office, not liking to be too close to him with her mind full of Death Eater memories. She felt contaminated by them.

A small alcove off the stairs served as her office and contained a chair, a desk and a small cage containing two spotted, lop-eared rabbits. She stopped to rub one of the rabbits with her finger through the bars of the cage, before turning to her desk and untransfiguring her tissue box, quill holder and vase into a pile of papers; a wave of her wand sent the papers flying up against the wall above the desk where they stuck themselves in place. All were blank. She touched each with her wand and muttered the words, "I see and understand." Photos, and wanted posters of various Death Eaters, time lines, maps, charts and diagrams appeared on the wall.

The study of these were the real source of her power as a Legilimens, for study gave names to the faces, meaning to the words, and significance to the actions uncovered in the minds she scanned; without it she would _see_ but would understand nothing.

She sat at the desk and began to write an account of all she had gleaned from Traver's mind, writing quickly to get as pure an impression of the images as possible. When she finished, she began a second report containing an account of her discovery of Travers, her methods of gaining access to Traver's mind, and descriptions of the girl who had led her to Travers and the other girl who worked the pub when she found him.

While Alice worked, Augusta silently placed a cup of tea on her desk and then left quickly. Augusta had a natural tact and reserve about her work that Alice appreciated. She drank the tea, and let it warm and relax her as she considered her next step. Every detail would be dissected from the whole and collated, placed in its own compartment, perhaps in her time lines, or her Death Eater profiles, perhaps her maps, or her catalog of curses.

Like pieces in a mosaic, each small detail was a single tile sorted and stored according to color and texture, which, when seen alone was meaningless but when mixed and placed with its brother tiles, formed a clear and unmistakable picture. Sometimes she thought of herself as an artist building a mosaic, and at other times she thought she was a spider spinning a web of facts, details, and clues to catch a Death Eater.

She drew a diagram of the V formation the Death Eaters had taken when they killed

Marlene and her family. Noting how they had Apparated to their station in the V, thus instantly boxing Marlene and trapping her in the attack.

The _Stragmos_ curse bothered her. Harrowing to watch, the curse was obviously designed to intimidate witnesses, yet Travers performed it in an empty park devoid of any onlookers save his own accomplices. Was the curse used simply to kill Tom McKinnon in a cruel way out of hatred, because he was a Muggle-born, or was Travers testing it or perfecting it? Did he burn the body to hide the existence of his unique curse?

Many of the Death Eaters from You-Know-Who's inner circle employed signature spells of their own design. Was this Travers attempt to enter that exalted circle by proving he could invent his own hex?

Frank had not yet sent word. The thought had loitered at the edge of her mind since she arrived home, and now enough time had passed that the thought had matured into a full fledged fear. She was beating air. She wasn't going to do anymore work tonight.

She tapped her report three times with her wand and whispered Geminio: three additional copies appeared on her desk, one each for Frank, Moody and Dumbledore. They would need to know all the details that she had of how Travers had killed the Mckinnon family.

"Finally finished," she said as she waved her wand over the reports, wiping them clean so each resembled bare sheets of paper and then transfiguring each of them into small items. For Dumbledore she transfigured the paper into a chocolate frog card depicting the witch Circe, and affixed the note, "for your collection." Moody's report was transfigured into a quill with the note, "a gift for you.". Frank's was turned into a list of chores she knew he was never going to do. For years she'd always sent him the same list.

At last she removed, wiped and transfigured the collection of papers affixed to the wall above her desk. The security measures impressed upon her early in her career by Alastor had become as natural to her as washing up dishes after dinner.

She went to the bedroom in search of her owl, Wol, carrying Dumbledore's chocolate frog card; she tied it to Wol's leg and sent him out to Dumbledore. She would send the quill to Alastor when she knew he'd returned from the fight. Of course Frank could pick up his own off her desk.

Neville cried softly in the next room, but calmed himself before she could reach him. She almost felt disappointed when he fell back to sleep. Cuddling him would have comforted her during the wait for Frank's return; she considered taking him downstairs, but could imagine Augusta's reaction to anyone waking a sleeping baby.

Poor Augusta had been left alone downstairs for long enough; Alice was becoming rude. Reluctantly, she left the baby behind and returned to her mother-in-law. Augusta sat imperturbable on the couch, a cup of tea in her hand, unfazed by either her solitary wait or Frank's delayed return.

Alice joined her and said "I'm sorry, Augusta, I've been rude leaving you alone like this. I had some Death Eater muck in my head. I needed to clear it out and write the report while it was fresh in my mind."

"Of course, Alice dear, you must do what your work requires," Augusta said a touch of pride in her voice. Augusta had called her 'Alice dear ' for so long Alice thought of it as one name. The habit had irritated her at first, but she was fond of it now as she was fond of the pride in Augusta's voice whenever she spoke of Alice's work. Augusta took almost as much pleasure in Alice being an Auror, as she did in her son's achievements, which was saying a lot.

"How was Frank able to join me at the pub so quickly? He arrived at almost the same time as Alastor." Alice asked Augusta. There'd been no time to ask Frank. She had even had to assume he had left Neville with someone.

"Frank sent me an owl this evening -- he thought it wise I come and stay, so he could join you as soon as he had news. He was worried about you, Alice dear," Augusta answered. "I came and made him a _good_ dinner while we waited. "

"Thank, you" Alice answered dryly. "But how did he..." Alice stopped in mid-sentence. She was becoming very worried; too much time had passed without word. She recited in her mind all the reasons that a fight would last this long, but none seemed adequate. If she didn't hear from him soon, she'd Apparate back to the pub and see if she could help him, whatever Frank thought of it.

"Alastor Moody sent Frank a message as soon as he heard from you. Frank left right after it came," Augusta said.

Frank must have made arrangements with Moody ahead of time. She and Frank were both getting anxious for each other. Whether the source of this anxiety was the accumulated tension of years of fighting Dark Wizards or the birth of Neville, she couldn't tell. The deaths of so many of their friends was the most prominent reason but she was wary of even skirting the edge of that thought.

She could feel more and more time passing without word from Frank. Alice felt the tick-tock of a clock beating inside her head measuring the time which passed from when Frank should have sent word.

"New Foeglass, I see," said Augusta, pointing to a rather large and ornate mirror on the wall which was clouded over with an indistinct mist indicating real but distant enemies. She narrowed her eyes and gave one of her indecipherable grunts. Her look made Alice wonder whether Augusta thought she and Frank were giving way to nerves.

"Present from Alastor when Neville was born," Alice answered.

"Moody thinks the child needs a Foeglass?" Augusta asked.

"No, Alastor gave _us_ a Foeglass so we could protect Neville," Alice said.

Her own mother had caught on to that immediately. At the sight of the Foeglass, she had protested, "What kind of life do you lead if your friends need to give you a Foeglass to protect your child?"

Alice had considered it a very hard question at the time. She still did.

"You seem anxious Alice dear, you needn't be. Frank could fight a Manticore and a Chimera and still return the winner. _My_ son has nothing to fear from anyone," Augusta declared staunchly.

Alice wished it was that easy. She had more faith in Frank than anyone, but she knew that Frank could be beaten. Anyone could be if enough planning and effort were put into it; for evidence she need only think of the deaths of Edgar and the Prewetts. Fabian and Gideon were attacked by five men; there was hardly a defense against that. Sometimes Augusta's insouciance was as much a burden as Alice's mother's fears.

Frank's Patronus, a silver border collie bounded into the room.

"We took them alive. Moody and I are safe. I'll be late." The dog said, with Frank's voice.

Giddy and sick with relief, Alice hugged Augusta spilling her tea all over them both.

"Well, I said worry was unnecessary, Alice dear," Augusta said, as she cleaned up the mess with her wand. "I'll be going home. I am a bit tired," Augusta said, rising and walking to the fireplace.

Alice followed and gave Augusta a peck on her cheek. She helped her step into the fireplace and waved goodbye as her mother-in-law disappeared into the green flames. Alice stretched and walked into the now immaculate kitchen. Relief had made her hungry. She had not eaten since noon. She could not eat while she was worried about Frank. A plate of the dinner Augusta had made Frank lay on the table, put aside for her.

Augusta knew she would be hungry, but she also knew that she couldn't eat when she was fearful for Frank. So she hadn't offered the food, but left it for her to have when she wanted it. Alice smiled as she ate her food, her mother-in-law was often a considerate woman.

After eating she returned to Neville's room and stood by his cot, watching him sleep. With all her fears for Frank, and the tensions of her day, it was good to look at his small form and watch him breathe.

After a time, she washed up her dish and returned to the living room. "_Nux_", she said. She sat in the dark with no light but that of the fireplace stroking her Kneazle, Spots. Knowing her love of spotted animals, Frank had given him to her when they were first married.

The voice in the walls announced, "Frank Longbottom has reached the Apparition point alone." _Lux_ she said and returned light to the room. She stood at the door while the voice announced his progress to the house. When he reached the door, she had her wand ready, prepared to check if it was really him, ready to show him her identity. He entered the house and stood at the door, he did not ask her a security question, he looked into her eyes and allowed her to see what was there.

She gasped and grabbed his arm and pulled him to the couch.

"Tell me with words," she said.

"Benjy Fenwick is dead. They found him under the Dark Mark this evening," Frank said. "They told me when Moody and I brought in Dolohov and Travers. They asked me to help identify his body. What there was of it."

For a brief moment she felt relief, relief that it was him and not Frank; then she recoiled from the thought with horror. She was glad Frank was not the Legilimens; he would have hated that thought. Benjy was Frank's best friend since the days she, Frank and Benjy had arrived at Hogwarts and been sorted into Gryffindor together.

Alice rubbed Frank's back as she waited for him to tell her what he knew. _Another Order member dead,_ she thought. _They'd killed the Prewett brothers, Marlene and Dorcas, even Edgar, and now Benjy. _

There was a special cruelty to Benjy dying the night they arrested Dolohov. Benjy, a Muggle-born, joined the Order because Death Eater crimes against Muggles so outraged him and Dolohov was vicious to Muggles. Much of the evidence they had of Dolohov's crimes was unearthed by Benjy at the Muggle Relations Office and passed on to the Order. She was sure Frank had been looking forward to telling Benjy they'd finally gotten the man he'd investigated for so long.

"They didn't find much of his body. I identified some locks."

Benjy had worn dreadlocks from the time they were children.

"We found an ear, I recognized it by the earing. There wasn't much else left." Frank's voice was tired.

"Are they sure it was him?" Alice asked. "Maybe it's a mistake. That's not much to..."

"They confirmed his identity with Polyjuice potion," Frank's said, resigned. "I waited for the results – it was him."

She felt dry and empty. She had no tears and felt no pain, only emptiness. She hoped the pain would come soon; she feared the emptiness. Benjy had been her friend before she had ever been close to Frank. She'd even dated Benjy for a short time in sixth year, mostly to make Frank jealous. It hadn't worked.

Another friend was dead, one more loss. They'd lost so many friends she felt she was playing a game of last man standing. She looked past Frank to their wedding picture on the table behind him. Benjy was there next to Frank, mugging for the camera. Dorcas, standing next to her with tears in her eyes, grabbing first Frank and then Alice to kiss. Edgar and Emma behind them waving. All of them gone. She and Frank were the only ones left; they were the last men standing, all alone.

Frank looked at her with tears in his eyes. She found a handkerchief in her pocket and handed it to him. "We were going to meet for drinks tomorrow. Well, that'll never happen again," Frank said. "He met someone. He was very happy. We'll have to make sure they send her word. It'd be terrible if she were overlooked."

"We'll write to her too, ourselves," Alice said to comfort him.

"Yes," he answered. She cuddled up against his chest. Frank curled a lock of her hair around his finger.

"The Dolohov and Travers thing was rougher than I expected. Took longer too; We made a mess of the pub. We got the boy along with the main two. From the look of him, I think he is a Crabbe, a younger brother or cousin I reckon," Frank said.

"God, that feels so long ago. I'd almost forgotten about Dolohov and Travers. That's odd, when I was so worried," Alice said.

"The pub owner came in, after we got the thing wrapped up, thank God," Frank said. "He was a bit angry. Kept asking about some kid who worked there. Seemed to think it was her fault we'd wrecked the place. As if she could have stopped us. He should have been glad she wasn't hurt."

He lifted her away from him to look into her face. "I assumed you chased her off," he said. Alice nodded. He kissed her and settled her back against his chest.

"I told him the Aurors ordered her off and that satisfied him. Magical Law Enforcement finally arrived and they took over placating him. It took forever to get the prisoners booked too," Frank said. "When they find the girl to question her, they'll figure out it was you who tracked the Death Eaters. The whole thing has your style written all over it.

They'll guess that you're working for someone. Scrimgeour is going to eventually link us to the Order -- we'll have to be prepared," Frank said

Alice shrugged. "He'll figure it out eventually, if he hasn't already," she said. She didn't care what Scrimgeour and the Ministry thought. She knew they were going to learn she was working for Frank and Moody during her maternity leave and she reckoned they could do what they wanted with the information. Frank was always more the law-abiding Head Boy than she was.

She knew that Frank had qualms, worries that their membership in the Order betrayed the vows they had made to the Ministry. She suspected Scrimgeour would feel so. When they'd joined the Order, they did so because they had no choice. Voldemort had infiltrated the Ministry. He was delving deeper, growing more powerful; their only choice to stop him was to align with others independent of the Ministry.

She could feel his heart beating against her cheek and the rise and fall of his chest with every breath he took. "I love you," she said.

He lifted her face and kissed her on the mouth. "I love you too," he said.


End file.
